Mercedes Benz Logo

Mercedes Benz Logo PNG

The Mercedes Benz logo reflects the history of creating an automobile brand that began in Germany. The name and emblem are a tribute to the technical automotive genius of Karl Benz and the memory of the Daimler concern, which became part of the company.

Meaning and History

The three-pointed star, the current logo of the brand, has been known for over a century. It was first used by Gottlieb Daimler and patented in 1901. The fact is that the future auto giant arose thanks to the merger of two large competing companies – Benz & Cie (led by Karl Benz) and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (led by Gottlieb Daimler). And the brand name is formed from the leading cars of these companies – Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886 of the year of manufacture) and Mercedes (1900 of the year of production).

At first, the brand name was used by Daimler as a personal label: it indicated the location of his house. It was a marker symbol, not associated either with a particular vehicle or even with a car brand.

Before merging the two companies into a single concern, the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft had the word “Mercedes” in the horizontally elongated oval on the emblem. And in 1909, competitors had a star as the central element. In 1916, she was placed in a double circle – red inner and dark gray outer. The task of the backgrounds was to link the logo to the field of activity of the transport manufacturer. However, over time, they disappeared, since the area of ​​work of the company is already familiar to everyone.

Gradually, the logo evolved from a complex shape to a simple one, until it was completely minimized, turning into a three-pointed silver star in a circle. By the period of the unification of automotive companies, it already had an actual appearance; therefore, it has become a distinctive symbol of the new structure.

What is Mercedes Benz?

Mercedes-Benz AG is an automobile company from the German city of Stuttgart. It had several predecessors, which started in 1926, united under a common name. The word “Benz” is a tribute to the inventor of the first internal combustion engine, Carl Friedrich Benz. Mercedes cars are produced in Germany and other countries on five continents.

1902 – 1909

Initially, the logo of the automotive giant was extremely simple. It was attended only by the word “Mercedes,” placed inside a horizontal oval with a double edging. The letters were uneven in height: on the edges were small, and in the middle – large. The background was black, the font gray.

1909 – 1916

At the dawn of its formation, the future concern chose a round emblem, in the center of which on the white substrate was an elongated inscription “Benz.” A light laurel wreath surrounded her on a dark background.

1916 – 1926

After the merger of the two founding companies, management combined the logos. On the updated version, there is a classic rondelle and the word “Mercedes.” The name is at the bottom of the double circle. The middle is a three-pointed star, separated by long thin lines of the same color as the inscription below. Its smaller copies are mirrored to the right and left of the central beam.

1926 – 1933

In this version, the company management decided to present the joint past of a well-known automobile manufacturer. That is why the emblem contains the names of both companies – “Mercedes” (above) and “Benz” (below). The rest of the space on a wide fringing strip is occupied by a wreath of laurel branches – a sign of leadership and great honor. A central place is given to a smaller diameter circle with a three-pointed star, each ray of which is white on one side and gray on the other, which forms a three-dimensional effect.

1933 – 1989

The next period was recognized as the most minimal in the history of the German concern’s logo. It consists only of a white circle and a black star.

1989 – 2009

In 1989, an emblem appeared with the familiar design currently in use. This is a metalized star with three rays, taken in a circle. Under it is a combined inscription of the founding companies: “Mercedes-Benz.”

2009 – today

In this option, designers have changed the scale ratio of the main elements. They increased the proportions of the name of the concern and reduced the graphic icon, enhancing the effect of steel gleam.

Font and Colors

The image marking the Gottlieb Daimler home has a different meaning. If at first, it was a protective sign, then later it received an extended interpretation. The triple (the number of rays indicates it) has always been considered sacred – the number of perfection.

By this, Daimler emphasized that his company’s products subordinate three elements at once: water, air, and earth. After all, the concern produced engines for sea and river transport, motors for the aviation industry, and power units for ground vehicles. He created them, worked out, improved, and tested them, customizing them to the time requirements. No wonder one of the first models was a racing car, on which engines are usually tested.

After connecting the industrial sites, the Mercedes brand mark was not approved for a good reason: approximately the same symbolism (name in an elongated ellipse) was already assigned to the Italian auto giant Maserati. And he is his closest competitor in the world market, so the founders used a three-ray star.

At first, they tried to explain it as a steering wheel, later (after the war) – as a lifebuoy. However, such interpretations did not take root, because Daimler breathed into it a completely different meaning. That is what remains. And the name Mercedes was chosen with the light hand of Emil Jellinek, the French consul, and distributor of Gottlieb. He convinced the employer that the name sounds cool and is already known in racing circles.

Before approving the three-pointed sign, they experimented with it: the designers tried to remove the circle, make the sign four-pointed, and change the color. But after several attempts, they decided to leave everything as it is. There were several reasons: a three-beam star is unique and recognizable, and without a circle, it is perceived to be unpresentable. The four-pointed option has not found practical application.

The font never performed the dominant function in the logo, so the brand name is written in a classic typeface. All letters are the same in thickness and easy to read. But the color was given great attention. In the early years, the emblem was gold, white, red, blue, and even crowned with a yellow laurel wreath. In 1916, when the star became the central element, it was painted silver.

Mercedes Benz color codes